'I was £1,800 in credit but npower sent me a bill for almost £11,000!'

I
pay npower £177 a month for energy. At the beginning of August I
appeared to be £1,800 in credit, so altered my monthly payments to £100.

A
couple of days later I received a letter by post that did not make
happy reading. This said the latest readings might not be correct.

According to these, I could soon be receiving a bill for around £935 for
gas and £10,000-plus for electricity.

I am on medication for high-blood pressure, so you can imagine the effect the letter had on me.

It would appear that an incorrect reading taken by one of their meter readers was the cause of the problem.J. M., Ashford, Middlesex.

Tony Hazell, Money Mail, replies: Although
you sorted out this problem yourself I felt your letter deserved a
place on this page. After you had taken meter readings, it emerged that
you a were actually £168 in credit.

However,
no credit at all can go to either npower or its meter readers. To send
out a letter quoting a potential bill of almost £11,000 is simply
unacceptable.

If my 90-year-old mum received a letter like this, she
would be terrified.

Npower
says this was only sent as a prompt for you to contact them and to make
you aware that it needed further readings to ensure your account was
billed correctly.

That’s as may be. But there was no need to scare you like this at all.

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'I was £1,800 in credit but nPower sent me a bill for almost £11,000!'